Celebrating Community
The golden age of Hollywood — lasting from the mid-1920s until the mid-1960s — was dominated by five studios: RKO, MGM, Fox, Paramount, and Warner Bros. RKO went belly up in 1957; now a faint whimper of its former roaring lion, MGM is part of the Amazon empire; and Fox has been absorbed into the Disney collective (for its Marvel and […]
Review of War Diary, by Yevgenia Belorusets, translated by Greg Nissan Right now, as you read this, there’s a war going on. Maybe you know every detail. Maybe you’ve skimmed the headlines. Maybe it feels like it has nothing to do with you. But what if the war was happening where you lived? You might think, This can’t be happening. […]
Ren’s virtual genius. The death of the music industry is both often reported and greatly exaggerated, but what mystifies me is how seemingly popular artists are making money. It’s not through streaming, that’s well established, but with little for sale it’s hard to see just how the income comes in. Take the at least occasionally brilliant singer Raury. His song […]
You can’t spell “brand” without “band,” and in music the two words are implicitly combined; bands are brands, the name conjuring not just songs and albums, but a specific style and sound. Whether mutable like The Beatles or static, like The Rolling Stone, name the band and their sound immediately springs to life in your head. This applies to jazz, […]
At the start of Lola Quivoron’s debut feature, Rodeo, a shaky camera follows Julia (Julie Ledru, exceptional in her first film) through a chaotic scene in the cold, echoing halls of a French housing project. Men shout at her, harass her, follow her, try to stop her — all the way outside, where she climbs into a truck and implores […]
Review of Forgotten No More: The Restoration of Untermyer Gardens, by the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy Review by Michael Quinn Who’s up for a day trip? It’s helpful if you have a car, but not necessary. You can get to Yonkers from Grand Central Station in less than an hour. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Yonkers? What do I want […]
Islands, mountains and valley girls. LA’s Death Valley Girls have released a couple of singles since 2020’s Under the Spell of Joy, and those songs have found a happy home on Islands in the Sky, the band’s fifth full-length. “When I’m Free” was the flip of Le Butcherettes cover of their “The Universe,” and it was a perfect pairing of […]
Jazz is political. I’m not here to shock or confound anyone, but in contemporary American culture, there’s a pervasive need to point out the obvious when so many people put effort into blocking the evidence of their eyes and ears from reaching their brain. Jazz is political, all music is political, all creative, cultural endeavors are political. They can’t help […]
Sitting on the beach, David Craig Ellis took a deep breath. The artist and curator had contracted COVID-19 April 2021. And in turn, long COVID – with symptoms ranging from sleeping problems to problems concentrating and thinking — set in. Ellis flew from New York to Miami in hopes that the sunshine would improve his state of being. While the […]
Review of Lunch with Lizabeth, by Todd Hughes Review by Michael Quinn Falling in love happens differently for everyone. Cupid picks up his bow and sometimes shoots an arrow where you’d never expect it to land. In the 1980s, gay filmmaker Todd Hughes fell head over heels for a femme fatale. She had him from hello—a sultry one spoken on […]